


of exams, secrets, and a thug who looks unexpectedly hot in glasses

by milominderbinder



Series: maia's shameless fic a day in the month of may [3]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: GED - Freeform, M/M, Studying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-03
Updated: 2014-05-03
Packaged: 2018-01-21 16:43:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1557191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milominderbinder/pseuds/milominderbinder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts when Mickey and Ian decide to clean out the basement and put their bed down there, tired of being walked in on by every single one of Ian's siblings. While they're moving boxes of junk, they stumble across Fiona's old GED textbook.</p><p>Of course, Ian never actually expects Mickey to <i>do</i> anything with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	of exams, secrets, and a thug who looks unexpectedly hot in glasses

It started the day Ian and Mickey, tired of being walked in on by every single one of Ian’s siblings, decided to clean out the basement and move their bed down there.  It was hardly a luxury option, but it was the best they had – neither made enough money to be able to get a place to themselves, Mickey’s house was suddenly full of lesbian hookers and babies, and sharing a room with two other people didn’t really appeal when Ian and Mickey were both teenage boys and liked to be able to jump each other at every opportunity.  Lip still visited enough that his room needed to be free, so the basement it was.

So, they set to fixing it up as best they could.  The smell of Carl’s meth lab still hadn’t totally dissipated, but after a few months at the Milkovich house, they didn’t mind that too much.  By the time they’d cleaned out all the broken glass and scrubbed some of the more menacing stains off the walls, the place was looking positively homey.

All that was left to do after that was push all the boxes that were down there out of the way, so they had enough space for a bed.  And one of those boxes happened to be full of Fiona’s old high school stuff.

On top of it was the textbook she’d bought to pass her GED.

“The fuck’s this?” Mickey asked when he saw it, but his voice was more curious than hostile.  Ian shoved away the box of mostly melted action figures he’d been rooting through and peered over Mickey’s shoulder.

“Oh, that’s Fi’s,” he said.  “She got her GED a couple of years ago.  Y’know, that test for dropouts that’s like a shitty version of a high school diploma?”

Mickey didn’t say anything else in that moment, just _hmm_ ed and dropped the textbook back into the box.

\--

The day after they moved their bedroom, Ian went to work early, while Mickey was still asleep.  When Mickey woke up, he went upstairs and had some breakfast, but then went back to their room.  He was bored – didn’t have to be at the bar for a few more hours, and the house was incredibly, miraculously empty.

Trying to find something to do, he wandered to the back of the basement, where they’d shoved all the old boxes to make room for their bed.  He idly picked up a couple of things – a melted action figure, broken magic 8 ball, ripped t-shirt – before dropping them back down again, disinterested.  It didn’t seem like anything there was gonna amuse him.

He was just about to go back upstairs and find something on TV when he saw the textbook again.  Without even really knowing why, he picked it up, flipped it open.  He wondered how hard the test was.  He’d never really progressed past the beginning of high school, and even his middle school days had been shaky, filled with detentions and patchy attendance records.  He was pretty much the opposite of a model student.

Still, he sat down on the edge of the bed, flicked through a couple pages of the book.  There were example questions at the bottom of the page.  The first three he saw, he could answer off the top of his head.

So maybe it wasn’t too hard after all.  Intrigued, he sat further back on the bed, and kept reading.

\--

The next time it came up, through Ian didn’t know it at the time, was a week later.  He, Kev and Lip were getting ready to take the ice cream truck out for the first time that summer, and decided to enlist Mickey’s help – Ian could attest to his superhuman joint-rolling skills, as well as a sniffer-dog-like ability to tell when a cop was near, so he’d be an invaluable asset.  He’d still been asleep when Ian had left that morning, so the three of them headed back to the Gallagher house to find him.

Only when they got there and walked through the front door, they were met with one of the strangest sights Ian had ever witnessed.  He stopped in his tracks and just _stared._ Mickey was sat on the couch, scrabbling to shove something under a cushion.  And –

“Mickey, you’re wearing _glasses,”_ Ian said, feeling like he could hardly even control his voice.  He heard Lip and Kev both letting out disbelieving laughs, as Mickey guiltily snatched the thick black-framed glasses off his face.

“Uh,” he said.

“Seriously, what the _fuck_ are you doing?” Lip asked, which Ian was grateful for, because it saved him the trouble.

“Nothing, I was just - ” Mickey’s face was flushed, and he thumbed at his lip in that way he always did when he was feeling awkward.  “I was reading, okay?”

“Reading?” Ian repeated, dumbstruck.

“Yeah, asshole, didn’t realise that was a fucking crime.”

“You can _read?”_ Kev joked, still laughing.  Ian rolled his eyes.

“Put your glasses back on,” he demanded.  Mickey glared at him.

“No.”

“Put them on,” Ian repeated.  He stared at Mickey for a second, and Mickey stared back, jaw set, before huffing out a sigh and deflating slightly, then shoving his glasses back onto his face.

Ian stared at him for a few more seconds, memorising the image.

Then he tackled Mickey back onto the couch and pressed their lips together as hard as he could.

“Aww, come on man,” Lip’s voice groaned behind him, but Ian ignored it, running his hands through Mickey’s hair and revelling in the fact that his boyfriend was so fucking _hot_.

“Get a fuckin’ room!” Kev called too, though there was still laughter in his voice.

Ian ignored them both, kept kissing Mickey, until Lip threw a remote control at his head.  By the time they were done with that, he’d forgotten about the whole ‘reading’ thing.

\--

That night, after they’d fucked and were lying in bed, starting to drop off to sleep, was when Ian remembered.

“Hey, what were you reading earlier?” he asked suddenly, rolling over on his side and looking at Mickey.  The room was dark, but there was enough light coming in through the doorway upstairs that he could see Mickey’s face flush red.

“Nothin’, it doesn’t matter,” Mickey said, which did nothing but make Ian a thousand times more curious.

“Seriously, what?  You don’t really seem like the reading kind,” he pushed, letting one of his hands drop onto Mickey’s chest.  Mickey squeezed his eyes tight shut for a moment, then opened them and looked at Ian, resigned.

“It’s dumb,” he sighed.  “I was just looking through that old textbook.  The GED one.”

Ian’s eyebrows shot up.  If he had been expecting any particular answer, that _certainly_ wasn’t it.

“You’re getting your GED?” he asked, feeling a sudden swell of pride in his chest.  Mickey shrugged awkwardly.

“Was thinking about it, maybe.”

“ _Why?”_

“It’s not exactly like I wanna be a pimp for the rest of my life, man.  Sounded like it might be easier to get a half-decent job with this GED shit.  You said it’s like a diploma, right?”

“Basically, yeah,” Ian said, grinning, and then rewarded Mickey by not saying any more on the topic.  He just pressed a kiss to Mickey’s shoulder, and let him fall asleep.

\--

Fiona found out two weeks later, when she walked through the front door into the kitchen, laden down with grocery bags, and saw Ian and Debbie stood completely still in front of the fridge, peering around the edge into the living room.

“Hey, what’s going -” she managed to get out, before Ian hissed _shhhhhh_ , never dragging his eyes away from the living room.  He looked like he was watching a particularly interesting nature documentary.

Confused, Fiona dropped the groceries onto the table and joined them.  And she could kinda see what was so fascinating.

Mickey was sat on the couch, a pair of glasses she’d never seen before perched on his nose, staring down at a book on the coffee table.  Not just any book – a _textbook,_ surrounded by scribbled-on pieces of paper which kind of looked like _notes._

“What’s he doing?” she hissed to Ian, bewildered.  Ian beckoned her closer, clearly not willing to risk upsetting Mickey’s studying in the slightest way.

“He’s gonna get his GED,” he whispered to her, voice filled with pride.  She hadn’t been expecting that answer, but she could see why Ian would be proud.   _He_ didn’t even have a high school diploma, and he was the most hardworking kid she’d ever met; Mickey was the epitome of a thug, undereducated and unenthusiastic, and she’d honestly never been that thrilled about him dating Ian in the first place.  She couldn’t picture him _ever_ volunteering to do school work, but from Ian’s reaction, it didn’t seem like he was forcing Mickey into it, which was really the only logical explanation.

She stood with Ian and Debbie for a few minutes longer, watching Mickey study.  He was quiet, turning the pages quickly, scribbling notes with the kind of intensity she’d only really seen from Lip when he was in the flow of writing an essay.  For a moment, Mickey didn’t seem all that bad.

Maybe, all this time, she’d been missing something.

\--

A couple of days after that, Carl was trying to work on his math homework.

Normally, he was perfectly happy to skip out on that altogether - if his teachers were pissed, he just figured that was their fucking problem.  But DCFS had been looking over their shoulders since Frank moved out, so Fiona had sat him down and convinced him to at least make an _effort_ not to get suspended for a few weeks, until the whole thing had blown over.

So, math homework it was.

Which was all very well and good in theory.  Except that Carl had an attendance rate of _maybe_ fifty percent, and hadn’t done math homework in at least two months, so when he sat down at the kitchen table and took out his worksheets, he realised they were essentially just a bunch of fuckin’ _numbers_ and he didn’t have a clue what he was supposed to be doing with them.

If it was for any other reason, he would have given up right then, but he didn’t want to be taken into foster care again, and if staying in school was the way to do that then he’d give it a shot.  He would just have to enlist some help.  Lip was away at college, which ruled out the best option, and Ian had dropped out of high school almost a year ago so Carl didn’t know if he actually remembered anything about math anymore - since he sure as fuck didn’t use it in the _real_ world.  Debbie was only a grade above him, so while she wasn’t exactly a math genius, Carl had figured she was probably his best bet - until he remembered that she was away at Holly’s for the night, and no use to him.

Sighing, Carl stared down at the paper for a few more seconds before getting up and going into the kitchen.  If he was gonna attempt the impossible, he at least wanted some chips to help him.

When he turned back, ripping open a packet of Doritos with his teeth, Mickey was sat at the table, staring down at Carl’s math sheets.

“What you doing?” Carl asked warily as he sat back down.  He’d never actually been able to decide if he _liked_ Mickey or not.  On the one hand, the guy was a total badass, and he’d once let Carl fire his gun.  On the other, he was kind of grumpy to everyone except Ian.  Plus, though Carl didn’t know the whole story, he’d gathered Mickey was the reason Ian had run off the year before.  Which had fucking sucked.

“This your math homework?” Mickey checked, ignoring Carl’s question.  Carl eyed him warily for another moment before he responded.

“Supposed to be, if I ever get around to doing it.  It’s confusing as shit.”

“Need some help?”

Carl’s eyebrows shot up.  He had _not_ been expecting that.

“You can do _math?”_

“Ey, calm down,” Mickey said, rolling his eyes.  “I can do _middle school_ math, yeah, ain't like I’m fuckin’ rain man or anything.  Ian told you I’ve been studying for my GED, yeah?”

Ian had told him that, but Carl hadn’t really registered it as something that affected his life, until that moment.  He paused for a moment, staring at Mickey.  He wasn’t entirely sure if this was some huge practical joke and Mickey was gonna tell him all the wrong answers just to get him in trouble.  But then, if he did that, it would make Ian mad.  Mickey didn’t ever seem to do things if he thought they might make Ian mad.

“Okay, yeah,” said Carl, picking up his pencil, still cautious.  “You can help.”

He got an A on his next math test, and the teacher called Fiona in to school to say she thought he’d cheated.  All he’d actually done was remember the things Mickey had explained to him.

\--

When Debbie noticed her disappearing school supplies, she didn’t so much investigate as she did start blindly pointing fingers.

“ _CARRRL,”_  she called as soon as she realised what was happening, and stamped down the stairs “I _told_ you to stay out of my stuff!  What are you even _doing_ with highlighters, anyway?  If you’re sniffing them to get high with your skank girlfriend I’m gonna _kill_ you.”

“I didn’t take your fuckin’ pens,” he responded, looking at her like she was actually crazy.  That kind of stopped her in her tracks; when Carl had done something, he was usually unapologetic about it, didn’t try to lie.

Then she heard Mickey’s voice behind her on the stairs.

“Hey, I borrowed your highlighters,” he said.  No swear words or anything, just a statement of fact; she spun around and stared at him, confused.  “You can have ‘em back if you want.”

“Oh,” she said, so shocked she couldn’t really think of a response.  “It’s okay, you can use them.”

He nodded, and headed back up the stairs.  Debbie exchanged a look with Carl.

Carl just shrugged at her.  Clearly he didn’t have a clue either.

\--

Two weeks later, Ian and Mickey fucked before dinner.  When they emerged from the basement just in time to sit down to eat spaghetti with everyone else, Lip and Fiona both rolled their eyes; clearly Ian and Mickey hadn’t been as subtle about their pre-dinner activities as they had thought.

Still, they ignored the reactions, and sat down to eat.  It wasn’t a special night - a rainy Tuesday, everyone kind of tired and bored.

They were halfway done with eating when Mickey's cell buzzed in his pocket, and he immediately scrambled to get it out.

“What’s going on?” Ian asked, trying to peek a glimpse at the phone.  Mickey immediately snapped it shut and put it back in his pocket.

“Oh, uh, nothing,” he said, which only made Ian a thousand times more suspicious.  “Just a text from Mands.  Uh, they got a letter at the house - I passed my GED.”

Ian’s jaw dropped open.  He’d never _really_ had any doubts that Mickey _could_ do it, but at the same time, he hadn’t quite been able to believe Mickey was actually going to go through with the test, so he hadn’t thought about it much.  Except for the few times he'd caught Mickey studying, it had all kind of seemed like a very strange dream. And Mickey hadn't even _mentioned_ when he took the test, must have done it while Ian was at work or something.

“I’m dating a graduate,” Ian said, face breaking out into a grin.  Mickey smiled too, sheepishly, looking down at his spaghetti like that made him seem more casual.

“Fuck off,” he said, but Ian could hear in his voice that he was a little proud of himself.

“Congrats, Mickey,” said Fiona from across the table.  Ian could have kissed her for it; he knew his whole family still had their doubts about Mickey, but the last thing Mickey needed was more people who didn’t like him - their support actually meant something.

“Yeah, that’s great!” Debbie exclaimed, offering up a pretty genuine smile.

“You better get back in school if you want to keep up with him, Ian,” Lip said, laughing.  Mickey laughed a little too at that, bumped his shoulder against Ian’s.

“Yeah, I’m gonna end up supporting your ass, man,” he said.

Ian rolled his eyes, and grabbed the back of Mickey’s head, drew him in for a kiss.  All these months, and it was the first time they had ever kissed in front of Ian’s family.

Ian didn’t care, though.  From the way Mickey kissed him back, he didn’t, either.  They broke apart after a few seconds, anyway, ignoring Carl’s catcalling, and turned back to their spaghetti.  Ian knew Mickey probably wouldn’t want anyone to make a big deal out of it, but he was so _fucking_ proud, he couldn’t wipe the grin off his face.

Then, suddenly, something occurred to him.

“So, now you’re smart and everything, will you wear your glasses all the time?”

**Author's Note:**

> for the fic-a-day-in-may challenge, and the anon prompt: _micky does something smart like grad. high school and ian is proud of his bae!_
> 
> send me more prompts on tumblr: [mickeymilk](http://mickeymilk.tumblr.com).


End file.
